


Queendom

by sempereadem



Category: Elizabeth (Movies), The Tudors (TV), The Virgin Queen (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Historical, Modern Era, Robert Dudley simultaneously being a dweeb and a snacc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 02:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14843976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sempereadem/pseuds/sempereadem
Summary: "You have a home in my Queendom / You have a place in my Queendom" - AuroraElizabeth Tudor is eighteen and about to enter University. Her best friend Robert Dudley has been at King's College London for a year already. His girlfriend Amy Robsart still doesn't know how Elizabeth feels about her. Mary Dudley and Anna Russell try their best to support their mercurial flatmate and friend. All John Tamworth wants is a god-damn break.





	Queendom

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Whitehall University](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5543693) by [boleynqueens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boleynqueens/pseuds/boleynqueens). 



> There are only a handful of Robert/Elizabeth fanfictions on here and that, in all honestly, is a travesty. I was inspired by boleynqueens' fantastic Whitehall University, her own take on a Tudor University AU focusing on Henry/Anne. 
> 
> To tell Elizabeth's story through a modern lens, I'm playing it a little fast and loose with the ages here. Robert is a year older than her, as he seems to be in history as well, but I've made Elizabeth, Mary Dudley and Anne Russell (named changed to Anna to avoid confusion with Anne Boleyn) the same age - Anne would have only been 10 or 11 years old when Elizabeth was 25 but she became one of Elizabeth's closest lady-in-waiting and was even attending on Elizabeth when she lay dying so I had to add her to the story. I also wanted to explore the relationship between Robert, Elizabeth and Amy in a context that no longer had marriage as the main roadblock. 
> 
> Also while this is obviously wildly AU, I still wanted Elizabeth's life here to parallel her life in history - which means that unfortunately, Anne is still dead - how she dies will be revealed later. Sad, I know, but I also wanted to explore the relationship with Elizabeth and Kat Ashley which necessitates Elizabeth being an orphan. 
> 
> Anyway, that's enough out of me. Hope you enjoy!

It was an unusually warm morning for September in London. Robert Dudley had grown used to the constant jack-hammering outside his window as the nearby Elephant and Castle shopping centre was being renovated and given a new, middle-class face lift. Southwark Council was clearly hell-bent on gentrifying as much of south London as possible. Well, he couldn’t really talk; he was renting a flat in one of the newest condos built in the area. Regardless, Robert was not used to sudden heat waves and the sheets tangled around his naked body felt almost unbearable. The only consolation was the equally naked and achingly beautiful girl lying next to him. 

Amy had spent the night at his place, as she often did, they put on Game of Thrones and then promptly ignored it as they ordered pizza, ate their fill and then fell upon each other on the sofa, lips kissing and hands exploring. It didn’t take very long for them to move things to Robert’s bedroom. Good thing his roommate John Tamworth was still as his parents’ place in Sittingbourne. Amy was as sweet and shy as ever, still blushing as though it was their first time (and it certainly was _not_ ) and Robert had welcomed her balmy softness after a gruelling day of moving his stuff into the new flat. He thought he might just drift off into the lovely memory from the night before …

 _CLANG_  

“Oi! Watch where y’swing that fuckin’ excavator!”

“I _told_ you to move that god-damn thing ages ago!”

Robert wondered idly if the law would be on his side should he decide to strangle those bloody construction workers. There was no way he could go back to sleep in that racket. Muttering at the injustice of being conscious so early in the morning, Robert reluctantly pulled himself from his girlfriend’s side (who, by some miracle, was still asleep), grabbed his phone and padded bleary-eyed into the small bathroom that connected his room to that of his absent flatmate. There was only enough room for a toilet, a small sink and a cramped shower but for two nineteen-year-old blokes, it was enough. As he began brushing his teeth he checked his phone as he always did. A voicemail from his mother, properly asking him for the sixteenth time if he’d moved in all right. He made a mental note to call her back later. A couple notifications from footballers he followed on Twitter and the news followed by three Snaps from his best friend, Elizabeth Tudor.

Robert smiled fondly as he saw her username pop up on his phone: “Bess” with a crown emoji next to it. When they had first gotten Snapchat and she had seen that Robert left her label as her plain username, _elizabethtudor_ , she had rolled her eyes, snatched his phone from him and typed a new label for him, using the nickname he had given to her as children. Crown emoji and all. On her phone, he knew, he was “Robin” with the eyes emoji next to it. He had playfully teased her in secondary school that he had become her eyes because her own eyesight was abysmal. She had glasses but obtained contacts as soon as she could, hating how the frames made her face look even more angular than it already was. It became a sort of inside joke between the two and they would often spam each other with the eye emoji whenever they heard some scandalous rumour, when they were trying to cheer the other up or simply for no reason at all.

He swiped right on the notifications to open the app and was greeted with a picture of Elizabeth in bed, still in her old, swan-patterned pyjamas, red hair rumpled with sleep and a scowl on her face. The caption on top read, “Whoever decided humans need to be up by 7am needs to be shot.”

The second Snap was a video of Elizabeth’s window from which sunlight was streaming into her room. Out of nowhere, Elizabeth’s hand came into view, giving the offending sunlight the middle finger. Robert snorted with laughter. 

And the final photo was again one of Elizabeth, this time sitting up with her hand partially covering her face in exaggerated misery. “Why did we decide to go to orientation??????????” bemoaned the caption.

Still with his toothbrush in his mouth, Robert took a photo of himself with one eyebrow raised comically higher than the other.

“hey, it was YOUR idea,” he captioned it.

With a chuckle he sent it off, feeling a great deal more awake now than he did five minutes ago. Robert had done the Fresher’s song and dance before, now entering his second year of university at King’s College London, but for Elizabeth it was her first time and she absolutely refused to not have her best friend with her as she entered the mother of all initiation ceremonies – who else was supposed to suffer all those tequila shots with her, after all? Granted, the morning offered only dull introductory presentations by the various departments of the faculty and perhaps a club fair or two but Elizabeth was determined to make the most of it. It seemed she might be regretting it now. She had never been much of a morning person.

Finishing his morning routine in the bathroom (he had unconsciously used the Aramis cologne that Elizabeth had gifted him on his own entry into University the year before) Robert returned to his bedroom and began dressing. Amy finally began to stir. 

“Why are you up so early?” The words tumbled out of her tired mouth – and yet she still looked so pretty at a time of day when most people looked like gremlins that had just rolled out of their lairs. 

“I should be asking you how you managed to sleep so long,” he teased her as he bent down to kiss her forehead softly. “Especially with that racket outside.”

Amy smiled and sat up.

“You know I sleep like the dead,” she responded, holding the bed sheets up to cover her naked torso, her pale cheeks tinged with pink. Robert marvelled at how shy she still was after almost a year of being together. For the most part it was endearing, if a bit exasperating at times. But he had no reason to complain at the moment.

“Yeah I noticed that after I tried to wake you up when you stole all the blankets,” Amy looked like she was about to protest her innocence but Robert headed her off by giving her the best good-morning kiss he could possibly muster. The dazed smile that graced her expression when he pulled away told him he’d done well.

“As for why I’m up so early, I’m showing Elizabeth around campus today, remember?” Robert said as he began rifling through the wardrobe opposite his bed.

“Right, right … it’s orientation,” Amy said, trying (and failing) to stifle a yawn, “but why do you guys have to go first thing in the morning?”

“It was her idea, although I think she wants to eat her words now,” Robert said, chuckling again as he remembered the snap from earlier. He turned back to Amy as he began to dress himself. “You sure you don’t want to come?”

Amy, whose clothes were still lying scattered on the living room floor, rose out of bed with a blanket around herself. “No it’s okay, I don’t want to get in the way.”

Fully clothed now, Robert wrapped his arms around his petite girlfriend. “Love, you’re _not_ getting in the way. Ever. I don’t know why you have this idea that Elizabeth doesn’t like you.”

Amy cringed and looked down, “She just doesn’t ever really talk to me when we’re around and when she does it feels really … forced. I’m sure she’s lovely – she must be, she’s your best friend – but I feel like I’ve done something wrong? Already?”

“Well, you’ve only met her twice, Elizabeth is a little wary of new people,” Robert explained, not wanting to go into the details of Elizabeth’s distrust of people she didn’t know well. Girlfriend of a year Amy might be but that was a part of Elizabeth’s story that he did not yet feel ready to divulge to her. But he did wish Elizabeth would be a bit warmer to Amy, they were both important to him. Then, an idea came to him.

“Tell you what, we were thinking of going to Ministry of Sound tonight with a couple friends since cover is cheap for orientation – I know, I know you don’t like clubs,” Robert said quickly when he saw Amy wince again, “but it’s a pretty nice one and maybe you’ll get to know each other a little better. Elizabeth will be in her element so she might be _slightly_ less of a bitch.”

Amy gave a little snort of laughter and rose on her tiptoes to kiss him on the corner of his mouth. “Promise to buy me a drink at least?”

Robert placed a hand on his heart. “Scout’s honour.”

“We don’t have Scouts in England.”

“Well, ‘offence-on-football-team-in-secondary-school’s honour’ doesn’t sound as snappy.”

“Fair enough,” Amy laughed and finally disentangled herself from her boyfriend’s embrace, “then I’m game. But until then I’m going back to sleep because this is an ungodly hour to be awake.”

“You do that,” Robert said fondly, “I’ll text you when I’m heading back to get ready for Ministry, yeah? Are you staying here for the day?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“’Course I don’t. I’ll see you later, love.”

* * *

 “Thank _Christ_  your dad was rich.”

Mary Dudley was one of the few people who could get away with saying something like that to Elizabeth Tudor. Anyone else would have gotten at least a glare, or worse, something quite hard thrown at them for insinuating that the young woman’s successes were due solely to her absent (and now late) father’s wealth. As such, Mary was one of Elizabeth’s best and longest friends so her cheeky comment was met only with muffled laughter as Elizabeth put away kitchen crockery she would probably never use in a cabinet.

“Too right – have you seen the price of rent ‘round London? It’s amazing this city still functions.”

For a flat in London well in the boundaries of Zone 1, it was massive. Two bedrooms with a “study room” which Anna Russell, their third roommate and mutual friend since secondary school, had gladly claimed as her bedroom. Anna was an only child and didn’t mind smaller, cosier spaces. She wouldn’t be here till after Orientation since she was still on holiday with her parents in France. They all shared one bathroom but it was spacious, with a tub large enough to fit two people in it, and the counters decorated with marble. The living space had windows that stretched from floor to ceiling, offering them a magnificent view of the London skyline. The building itself, ostensibly named One Blackfriars, housed mainly foreign investors, businessmen and the like but Elizabeth’s position as the daughter of one of England’s top lawyers in the country (now dead but the money certainly remained) had helped her get a foot in the door. The rest of the deal had to be credited entirely to Elizabeth’s quick wit and negotiation skills because such a high-end area was loath to sell to three university-aged girls. But soon the deal was closed and the three girls pooled their money together to buy the flat (with Elizabeth, admittedly, paying the largest portion) with the idea that they would live there for the three years of university, sell it upon graduation and then split the money equally amongst themselves.

But for now, they had a spacious flat, they lived alone in the biggest and most magnificent city in England and they were entering a week dedicated to nothing but over-drinking and general debauchery. And Elizabeth fully intended on enjoying every last moment.

“Fuck’s _sake_ why did I pack so much?” Elizabeth grumbled as she kicked another box labelled  _Kitchen._

“I dunno, but you’d better hurry up and get ready, we have to meet Robert in half hour.” Mary replied, casually rifling through the books required for her Literature degree. She had already read half of them in secondary school.

“Right, well, I suppose the rest of these will just have to wait.” Elizabeth declared as she turned to Mary and added, “C’mon, I need your help picking out an outfit.”

Tossing aside _Sense and Sensibility_ , Mary followed Elizabeth into her room and set about trying to find the perfect outfit for the first day. Many rejected options later, Elizabeth finally was satisfied with her choice. Mary was about to text Robert to tell him they’d be down soon when she heard the telltale snap of Elizabeth opening one of her many eye shadow palettes and she groaned aloud. It took Elizabeth at least forty-five minutes to do her makeup. 

“Liz, it’s orientation, nobody wears makeup at orientation!”

“Excuse you,” Elizabeth said, ignoring her friend and she got to work on one eye, “I want to look _presentable_.”

“We’re supposed to meet Robert at Strand in five minutes!”

“Well Robert can bloody well wait, can’t he?" 

Mary knew it was useless to argue with her friend and so she sighed and accepted defeat, plopping down on Elizabeth’s bed and pulling a forgotten magazine towards her to flick through as she waited. She sent off a quick text to Robert saying that they would be a bit late, to which he merely responded with three eye-rolling emojis. Mary snorted and resumed her magazine perusal. To Elizabeth’s credit, she kept it simple this time and was actually done under half an hour. That, of course, didn’t stop Mary from taking the piss.

“Will you _ever_ stop being so extra?” Mary asked, taking in Elizabeth’s thigh-high, heeled boots, her airy dress that fell just to where the boots ended, her wide brimmed hat and the fashionable sunglasses she was just about to put on. For once London’s temperature was in the twenties and Elizabeth looked like she was ready to walk the streets of Los Angeles. 

“The day you stop being petty,” Elizabeth retorted, slinging her dainty purse over her shoulder. 

“Said the pot to the kettle.”

“Oh, piss off.” 

An outsider might have been alarmed at the apparent antagonism between the two girls but those who knew them well knew they enjoyed every moment of it. Every verbal barb was softened by a fond smile, every insult playful in nature. Mary and Elizabeth wouldn’t have it any other way. Even now they quickly dissolved into laughter as they both left the flat to finally meet up with Mary’s brother.


End file.
